the world's unseen
by Mia-Zeklos
Summary: When Rey arrives on Ahch-To, the island is deserted. Still determined to bring Luke Skywalker to the Resistance, she looks everywhere for any sign of him and finds much more than she'd ever expected.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes: Pretty much what the summary says. I started this fic as a no strings attached sort of project because I loved the concept and I just decided to share it as I go on. Luke is only going to appear later on; this fic is, for the most part, Rey-centric with a dash of the 'falling in love with someone through their journals' type of story. Title taken from Nightwish's _The Islander_ , which honestly just feels perfect for Luke's situation in TLJ.**

* * *

The island was deserted.

Rey wasn't sure what she'd expected. This was _it_ – the place she'd dreamt of; all those images that had felt nothing short of real – but since she'd been informed that she was supposed to find someone here, the picture felt incomplete. It was full of life in nearly every way imaginable, but there was no one to welcome her; just old, empty building and a plethora of creatures beyond her wildest dreams.

Despite the disappointment – _he's gone, of course he is, they'd waited too long_ – Rey couldn't help but love it. During her rather extensive search around every even remotely reachable spot on Ahch-To, she'd had the chance to explore too and _feeling_ the texture of it all was much different from seeing it in her mind. There was so much left for her to see yet – the beach way down below being the first thing on her list – and Rey decided to take the chance. It wouldn't take long, it would mean putting off the unpleasant task of bringing the bad news back to the Resistance _and_ maybe she would have the chance to find whatever it was that Luke Skywalker had tried to find here. It was irresistible.

"I don't think he's here," she told Chewbacca once she got back to the ship. She still struggled to understand him, but the dismay in his response was clear. _You and me both_. "But I'm going to look a little more. Just in case. It's a big island." The words sounded more and more like excuses the more she spoke, but Rey soldiered on. "If you want to guard the ship—"

She got an enthusiastic affirmative in response, just like she'd expected. She'd seen how devastated he had been after Han's death; it only made sense that he would want some solitude.

So Rey left on her own. She headed for the beach first, even more drawn to it than she'd expected despite the fact that there was clearly no one there, and took off her shoes the moment she reached the sand. Te majority of her clothes followed next – the breeze coming from the water was refreshing against her skin, inviting and so _foreign_ that she picked up her pace, eager to be closer.

Everything was different. Things that Rey had thought would feel familiar – the sand and the heat and the sunlight – were _softer_ here, gentler; a caress on her skin instead of the constant, merciless grip of the deserts of Jakku and so much more welcoming. The feeling only intensified when the waves started lapping at her feet and Rey knelt on the wet ground, letting the sea foam and the fine sand seep between her fingers.

Stories of the ocean were a rarity back home. There were the occasional travellers that came by, happy to share something about their experiences for a meal or even spare parts, but they almost never spoke of places like this one; just cities and royalty and the creatures that hid in the dunes in the wilder parts of Jakku. Rey had met someone willing to tell her what the sea was like only once, about two years ago. He had struggled to compare it to anything she'd ever seen. _It's big,_ she remembered him saying, as if at a bit of a loss, _vaster than anything you've ever seen. Cold, but friendly too. You would love it._

It hadn't made much sense as far as stories went – it was full of contradictions that she couldn't understand without the full picture _and_ things that she had already been able to guess – but Rey had given him the promised meal anyway. Now, years later, she wished she had given him something more. He had been right; there were no other words that she could find for it either.

Before she could convince herself that this was a waste of time – a resource she was already short on – Rey took off whatever was left of her clothing and stepped in.

It was nothing like an oasis or even an artificial water basin. The sea got deeper gradually, the water that splashed against her skin reaching higher with each step she took and, in a moment of blind courage, she lunged forward, letting the ocean surround her from every side before opening her eyes again.

It was cold, although not unbearably so, but the shock of it was the last thing on Rey's mind. The world was fuzzy at the edges, bathed in a blue-green hue of sunlight, and all the shapes in front of her – rocks and small fish, mainly, but something that resembled plants too – were distorted in a way that she would have _loved_ to explore if she hadn't been running out of air.

Rey pushed himself up, gasping for breath. It was a good thing that she hadn't gone in too deep – she suspected that it wouldn't have been quite as simple then. It was still relatively easy to wade through the water until she reached the beach again and Rey collapsed onto the sand, quickly turning away from the blinding blue of the sky. Her eyes stung with seawater and suddenly it hit her just how long she'd been awake. Without much thought, she closed her eyes again and this time, it was all too easy not to open them again.

In the afternoon, Rey went looking for food. There was still something left of the provisions on the _Millennium Falcon_ , but they wouldn't last for long, especially the water. They wouldn't need anything more if they left in about two days but it was better to be honest with herself – she wanted to stay for at least a while longer than that.

Finding the river was a relief. The water Rey drank from it seemed to be perfectly safe and it was the first stable assurance of survival that she'd been able to find here, even if her worry soon moved on to the food. The environment was as different from what she was used to as it could get. She couldn't recognise any of the plants or animals here; how was she supposed to know what was edible?

It was better than the desert. Whatever she found here, it would be easier to locate than anything she could figure out back home and as it turned out, she wouldn't have to work too hard for it – by the time she got back to the ship, hours later and already starving, she realised that the matter had been dealt with already, at least for the time being. Chewbacca had skinned several specimens of the small birds that populated the island and wasn't opposed to sharing. It wasn't much, but it was actual, real food and Rey relished in how _messy_ it was when compared to the dry, tasteless portions that she was used to. When she bid him goodnight and fell asleep again shortly after dinner – right there, under the stars with the grass tickling her hands – she felt more content than she ever had before.

~.~.~.~

It was summer on the island. Rey knew that as soon as she woke up – the greyish light of the early dawn was the only thing she needed to tip her off, if the warmth of yesterday hadn't been enough of a tell. She winced at how stiff her body was (sleeping outside had been a _mistake_ , nice weather or not), but managed to get herself to sit up.

Only to come face to face with the strangest creature she'd seen on this planet so far.

As soon as it realised that it'd been noticed, it was gone; the fish-like face disappearing from her field of vision. Rey stared after it as it muttered something under its breath and, without a moment of hesitation, decided to follow in its footsteps. Whatever it was, there was _purpose_ behind its actions and right now, that was all she needed.

It took a while, but eventually Rey found herself back at the old settlement. There were others here now; a whole tribe of the same beings coming in and out of all the small buildings, with one solitary exception. It was also the one she felt the most drawn to, her fingers closing around the handle of the lightsaber she'd meant to offer once she arrived. Maybe this was it. He wasn't here now, but he would be and when he came back—

She only discovered that she'd stepped closer when the creature from before stopped hear again, voice rising in volume. It didn't help much – Rey still couldn't understand a word of it – but it was clearly against her entering and she wasn't ready to let that stop her; not when she'd come this far.

"It's important," she said, as if it would have any effect at all. "You don't understand—" More chastising, this time followed by a gesture that couldn't be anything but dismissive, and Rey felt the last shreds of her patience running out. She fished the lightsaber out of her bag and brandished it in the creature's face, hoping that it would make her point understandable even if words could not. "I needed to bring this back, for when Skywalker returns. Luke Skywalker? He must have been here, you must have—"

Her voice died when the entrance was finally cleared – the name or the weapon or both had done the trick, she supposed – and Rey cut her explanation short when the door swung open in front of her. She narrowed her eyes as they tried to adjust from the vibrant colours of Ahch-To to the dark interior of the hut. The sight that welcomed her was both unexpected and the only thing that really made sense and Rey had to stop at the doorstep to take it all in.

Dust swirled in the air where the light poured through the tiny windows. It covered nearly every surface in a layer too thin to be more than a few weeks old. Unlike the rest of the buildings, this one had clearly been used in the recent past – there was a bed, a pile of clothes, several books and a large box full of all sorts of things; broken lightsabers, small bottles, a bunch of feathers, all of it looking strangely abandoned when grouped together with no purpose in sight.

Luke Skywalker hadn't meant to leave this place, or at least, not permanently. It wasn't a rest stop; in one way or another, it was a _home_. There was no way to tell where he'd gone or when he'd return, but she was ready to wait, and in the meantime— well, it wouldn't hurt to try to get done what she could do on her own, would it? Before Rey had had the time to think the new idea though, she gathered a handful of the books and put them in her bag along with the rest of the few possessions she still kept. Skywalker hadn't come back yet; he wouldn't miss them either way. She, on the other hand, could actually make use of her time here.

On her way back to the Falcon, what little guilt Rey had felt over her decision evaporated completely. She'd taken a different route this time around, one that led her along the very edge of the cliffs and Rey kept her eyes fixed on the ground with every cautious step, trying to keep her balance, only to almost fail at the sight that greeted her in between two of the largest indentations in the rocks.

The structure of the machine was masked by rust and decay and years and years of waves crashing into it, but it was still unmistakable – the X-Wing, likely the sole transport off of Ahch-To, lay completely submerged on the seabed.

He hadn't flown off the planet, then. It was only a small comfort, Rey supposed, but it still brought a smile to her face.

A small comfort, but not nothing. Not anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes: Plot actually starts to happen towards the end of this one, to the point where I'm pretty sure I'll have to go with five chapters instead of four.**

* * *

The books she'd borrowed ( _borrowed_ , not stolen, despite the constant suspicious looks that Chewbacca kept throwing her way) were, for the most part, a mix between diaries and manuals. The first – and biggest – one was focused on his own first steps as a Jedi after the deaths of both of his teachers. The others seemed to be mainly notes on his students later on and logs from his own Jedi Temple, but Rey set them to the side for now. It was his experiences that she was most interested in, especially given how helpful they could be to her.

 _You need a teacher_ , Kylo Ren had said the night of their fight and so far, she'd tried to ignore the curiosity she felt rise at the possibility, but it was increasingly difficult to do so. The Force, whatever it actually _was_ , wasn't really something Rey could get to know on her own, but she didn't have much of a choice, did she? There was no one here to help.

And so she started reading.

Skywalker's records weren't actually dated, but judging by his first notes, it appeared that he'd officially started training on his own in the months after the Empire had fallen. Not _too_ soon after that – there was already an established government or at least the semblance of one – but soon enough that it was clear that he hadn't been entirely sure what to do.

 _Everyone keeps hinting at a new Jedi Order, but I'm the only one left, he wrote._ _Even if it happens, it'll take years. I might not even be alive to see it and it'll have to be established by only my students. I'm not sure if I'm ready to teach anyone anything, but I could try one day. Leia says that it'd be easier to make sure that I won't forget anything if I write it all down, so I'm writing it down._

Many more entries followed, none of them as personal as the first one had been. Skywalker had written down everything – how to get certain materials, how much they cost, who could bring them to him once he'd paid. The answer to the last question was, more often than not, _Han_ and Rey's heart constricted at the thought. Did he know? Had he been able to tell somehow? Maybe that was the reason he'd left. If that was the case, she couldn't even blame him.

Instead, Rey kept reading. He was still catching up with the basics of it all at this particular point – he'd gone after some of the rumours he'd heard and entry after entry was dedicated to the temple he'd found along the way on some remote planet. That was when he'd found the paper and the tools to write with, actually; he'd documented that too.

 _It's a beautiful place, but it's been abandoned for years. Centuries, maybe. The Jedi Order, while it still existed, had too many resources to need a place like this and it's fallen into disrepair. I might still be able to salvage something out of it, but it won't be easy._

His enthusiasm, even from so many years ago, was infectious and Rey found herself smiling as she flipped through the pages. He'd sketched out some of the things he'd seen during his trip – mainly symbols he'd found and wanted to analyse later. For her, they were the most fascinating part of it all – vaguely, distantly familiar in the way only her early childhood could usually be.

When she decided to go exploring again, Rey took the journal with her.

She couldn't be sure if it was just the way the Jedi Master described the things around him – it was all strikingly vivid with the words he'd used – or if she was experiencing something similar to the visions she'd had when she'd first touched his lightsaber, but she was definitely seeing _something_. It was as if his story (and that was what it felt like, a story, especially after a lifetime of being halfway convinced that Luke Skywalker and everything surrounding the tales about him was nothing more than myth) was overlapping with all the sights that the place unveiled in front of her and Rey realised that she'd have to put the book down if she really wanted to get anything done.

As it turned out, there was much _more_ to the island than she'd have guessed at a first glance. She'd dreamt of it so often that it had felt almost familiar, but it wasn't – it was wild and largely untamed and better than anything Rey could have seen coming. The more of it she uncovered, the more there was to still see it occurred to her an hour or so into a walk through a half-flooded cave that this could take _weeks_. Searching for a Jedi Master who didn't seem particularly eager to be found would have been difficult enough with the limited space she'd had in mind; this way, it would be much worse.

Still, in a way, it was a soothing thought. He had to be here somewhere and she would get there eventually, but in the meantime— in the meantime, she could still learn. There was a deadline for how long she could stay here even if no one had explicitly had given her one and Rey intended to use the time before that as well as she could.

Slowly, bit by bit, she started getting to know the whims of the climate a little better. It didn't vary as wildly between day and night as the weather back home usually would, but the hottest part of the day was still the middle of it and she retreated back to the beach to make it a little more bearable. The water helped even when she wasn't in it and she'd brought food as well as the book, almost impatient to get the same phantom feeling of recognition that she'd had before.

It wasn't quite the same now. By the time he'd written this, Skywalker had still been in the Jedi Temple, but he'd moved on to describing some of the books he'd found instead of the place itself. He'd made several illustrations, too, but nothing that Rey could really make sense of – he'd done them for his own benefit so that the words of the Order could become slightly more comprehensible, and had then attempted to communicate with his teachers.

 _Master Yoda told me a little about the fate of the Jedi once they become one with the Force. I'm trying to understand it, but it's not easy thinking that someone's consciousness can be so fully synchronised with the rest of the Universe and then manifest back into a visible form. And not being able to imagine it means that I can't reach out, to him or to Ben. I miss them sometimes. In places like this, it's almost as if they're here again, but they aren't, really – I would have felt it, just like when the appeared with my father._

Rey's breath caught in her throat. _One with the Force_. No matter what words Luke Skywalker had used to describe it, what that meant was _death_ , or so it seemed. Maybe it wasn't as final for his people as it was for everyone else, but there was no denying the truth of it.

Strangely, irrationally, Rey refused to believe that the same had happened to him. She would have known somehow, she thought, she would have felt it. Maybe she could reach out too, if only she knew what to do. He hadn't bothered to explain it step by step, but Rey had once since overcome the discomfort that that fact caused – if one of the other texts she'd found had the answers she needed—

Well, she'd have to try. She'd promised the General, had even implied to Chewbacca that she actually had a plan here; it couldn't all fall apart now just because she didn't want to intrude. Rey got to her feet and headed back for the ship.

From the small pile she'd borrowed, only one book fit what she was looking for. The first one was another journal, this time from many years later. Another was a list of names with details and notes attached to them that she left on the side to decipher later. The third was something like a manual, but not quite – the notes were long and painstakingly detailed and she only realised halfway through the first one what they actually were.

 _Lectures_. Carefully crafted, easily understandable even for someone especially young – there was nothing here to prove it, but Rey was willing to bet the majority of her modest possessions that these were the lessons that he'd given at his own Jedi Temple.

It wasn't difficult to imagine. She'd watched several as much as she'd been able to find on him on their way here and the image she'd been left with in result of that was a mix between the hero of the Rebellion, the ambitious young Jedi Master talking enthusiastically about his very first students and the still image described as the most recent sighting of him shortly after everyone had realised that he'd gone missing. Rey could almost see him saying these same words over and over again to the newest arrivals, telling them tales of the Force and all the ways to connect to it that he'd found. She could even picture the place – not too different from the settlement she'd found on her first day, perhaps, maybe a little more civilised— and suddenly, she knew what she had to do.

~.~.~.~

"I just think it might all come to me more naturally that way," Rey explained, unable not to wonder why she kept sounding more and more defensive with every word she spoke, "if I move up there. It couldn't hurt to try."

" _No_ ", Chewbacca agreed. He'd got to work on some part of the ship that even she couldn't begin to figure out, but had abandoned it for the time being in order to give her an unimpressed look. Clearly he shared Han's views when it came to all the mysticism surrounding the Jedi arts and Rey couldn't say she disagreed, and yet— it didn't make much sense, but it could be her only shot. " _But there's no one else here_."

"There are those local creatures." She didn't feel confident enough to give a more concrete description, but there was no way he hadn't seen them – they were everywhere. "They have to live somewhere in that area anyway and I'll tell you if there's something wrong."

" _Likewise_." He returned to his project as soon as she nodded in response and despite feeling at a bit of a loss, Rey was determined to prove that she could handle this – all of it. This was a lesson too, even if it wasn't one that Skywalker had actually meant to give. She wasn't on her own anymore. She could face _anything_.

There wasn't really much for her to move into one of the huts in the deserted village, but it still felt somewhat less empty when she was done. She'd decided to bring along the books as well, both for convenience and for the inexplicable giddy mood that took over her at the prospect – at some point, hundreds of years ago, someone had sat in this exact place, doing this exact thing. They hadn't been here alone, of course, and she didn't even have a _teacher_ , but this would have to do for now.

It was pleasant inside, the stone still hot from the scorching heat of the day, and Rey felt a little less lost by the time she'd made herself comfortable on the small cot built into one of the walls. This wasn't home and a part of her still ached at how much time she'd spent off-planet already, but it was an easier thought to ignore when she felt this safe.

It was a sensation that rapidly evaporated just a few hours later when Rey was woken up by the first rays of the sun but found herself face to face with Kylo Ren instead.


End file.
